Cozumel June 2015 trip report
I dove Cozumel in late June after being in Akumal for a wedding and got in 4 dives in Akumal. I wrote a report in the Mexico forum. Normally we use American Airlines via Dallas but since we were going to Akumal we used United Airlines but direct from Denver to Cancun. We left Cozumel on United to Houston then Denver. We are so glad we signed up for Global Entry. When we got to Immigration in Houston, it was a zoo. The Global Entry kiosks were right in front and after a few minutes we were in baggage claim waiting for our bags. We discovered there was a line in Customs for Global Entry as well. Customs had winding lines of people with bags. We later talked to people on our flight that did not have Global Entry and they said it took 2.5 hours to get all the way through. Dallas is a cakewalk compared to Houston but it could have been the time of year.
We traveled to Playa Del Carmen from Akumal and took the ferry across on Mexico Waterjet. It had an outside upstairs area which was good for the heat. The water was calm. Playa del Carmen is huge now. I had not seen it for 12-15 years.
The main square in San Miguel Cozumel seems to be complete. We went into town only one night to eat at Guidos with Raul (dive op owner and DM), his wife and spoiled granddaughter.
I dived 7 days in days in Cozumel with Cozumel Scuba Diving | Go diving in Cozumel with BottomTimeDivers dive operator. We normally dont dive in late June or summer Usually in the winter or spring. I expected an empty boat but it was almost full or full every day. Good for Raul. It was supposed to be slow season. The hotel was at 90-95% occupancy. A lot of boats going out everyday. On the boat we met some people we had not dived with before and some we had.
The weather was hot and humid but less than Akumal. It had rained quite a bit before we got there so the mosquitoes were thick but we brought repellent. Fewer sand fleas. We were awakened a couple of nights to massive lightning storms.
The currents were slow and sometimes non-existent on many sites though we did get faster currents the farther North we went. Had to fin many times. Many times we got in the boat and we were asked where we want to go and the answer was wherever no other boats are. We dove the Palancars a lot, other sites were La Francesa, Dalila, Cedral Pass, Cedral Wall, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Santa Frisco (which is a combo of the previous two), some sand flats looking for small stuff.
The water was generally flat, slow currents, decent vis better than Akumal, but a lot of divers in the water. Water temps were consistently around 82-83 F. I noticed fewer drums and toadfish but more lobsters and crabs.
I only used my macro lens one day but did take advantage of the Olympus 12-50 mm with pseudo macro ability. Somehow I got a macro shot (macro lens) of a trumpetfish (below) he did not move away.
For some reason, I had white balance problems the whole week. Not sure why. I found several bad rechargeable batteries and managed to get my camera back together some nights in the bad hotel fluorescent lights with no issues.
One highlight of the dives was finding a batfish. I had not seen one before. I include some photos. We went back another day to find it again but it wasnt there.
Photos
I dove Cozumel in late June after being in Akumal for a wedding and got in 4 dives in Akumal. I wrote a report in the Mexico forum. Normally we use American Airlines via Dallas but since we were going to Akumal we used United Airlines but direct from Denver to Cancun. We left Cozumel on United to Houston then Denver. We are so glad we signed up for Global Entry. When we got to Immigration in Houston, it was a zoo. The Global Entry kiosks were right in front and after a few minutes we were in baggage claim waiting for our bags. We discovered there was a line in Customs for Global Entry as well. Customs had winding lines of people with bags. We later talked to people on our flight that did not have Global Entry and they said it took 2.5 hours to get all the way through. Dallas is a cakewalk compared to Houston but it could have been the time of year.
We traveled to Playa Del Carmen from Akumal and took the ferry across on Mexico Waterjet. It had an outside upstairs area which was good for the heat. The water was calm. Playa del Carmen is huge now. I had not seen it for 12-15 years.
The main square in San Miguel Cozumel seems to be complete. We went into town only one night to eat at Guidos with Raul (dive op owner and DM), his wife and spoiled granddaughter.
I dived 7 days in days in Cozumel with Cozumel Scuba Diving | Go diving in Cozumel with BottomTimeDivers dive operator. We normally dont dive in late June or summer Usually in the winter or spring. I expected an empty boat but it was almost full or full every day. Good for Raul. It was supposed to be slow season. The hotel was at 90-95% occupancy. A lot of boats going out everyday. On the boat we met some people we had not dived with before and some we had.
The weather was hot and humid but less than Akumal. It had rained quite a bit before we got there so the mosquitoes were thick but we brought repellent. Fewer sand fleas. We were awakened a couple of nights to massive lightning storms.
The currents were slow and sometimes non-existent on many sites though we did get faster currents the farther North we went. Had to fin many times. Many times we got in the boat and we were asked where we want to go and the answer was wherever no other boats are. We dove the Palancars a lot, other sites were La Francesa, Dalila, Cedral Pass, Cedral Wall, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Santa Frisco (which is a combo of the previous two), some sand flats looking for small stuff.
The water was generally flat, slow currents, decent vis better than Akumal, but a lot of divers in the water. Water temps were consistently around 82-83 F. I noticed fewer drums and toadfish but more lobsters and crabs.
I only used my macro lens one day but did take advantage of the Olympus 12-50 mm with pseudo macro ability. Somehow I got a macro shot (macro lens) of a trumpetfish (below) he did not move away.
For some reason, I had white balance problems the whole week. Not sure why. I found several bad rechargeable batteries and managed to get my camera back together some nights in the bad hotel fluorescent lights with no issues.
One highlight of the dives was finding a batfish. I had not seen one before. I include some photos. We went back another day to find it again but it wasnt there.
Photos
